Positive youth development programs such as those offered by Boy Scouts of America (BSA) provide sources of support and opportunities for leadership and character development. Programmatic experts from BSA collaborated with researchers to develop a visual theory of change (pathway model) for youth development in Scouts BSA and for adult volunteer…

The experience of love plays an integral role in human development as adolescents transition into adulthood. However, little is known about whether early adults have a shared understanding about indicators of love in daily life in this transitional phase. Using Cultural Consensus Theory informed by developmental theory, this study examined whether…

Purpose is an indicator of healthy human development and believed by some theorists and educators to be an important outcome of college. The aim of this study was to test the potential for assessing purpose using a person-centered analysis, thereby providing more individual-specific understanding of students' purpose development, and second by…

The transitional years of early adulthood, with key tasks of identity and intimacy development, engender both opportunities and risks for well-being. We propose that the conceptualization and measurement of early adults' well-being can be improved through (a) an integration of ideas from developmental and psychological science on well-being, (b)…

Current knowledge of intraindividual longitudinal patterns of civic participation (CP) and their predictors remains limited. As life cycle trends are showing a decline in civic/political involvement during early adulthood years, increased understanding of these aspects could enhance efforts to promote greater and/or sustained CP trajectories among…

The limited understanding on why Latino parents endorse organized activities is problematic given that these beliefs can help elucidate why they overcome barriers to support their children's participation. In this study, we analyzed interviews from a diverse group of 34 Mexican-origin parents who resided in Arizona. Results of the study indicate…

This study evaluated effects of "Positive Action," a school-based social-emotional and character development intervention, on indicators of positive youth development (PYD) among a sample of low-income, ethnic minority youth attending 14 urban schools. The study used a matched-pair, cluster-randomized controlled design at the school…

Examined the effects of early child care experiences on children's social development between 1.5 and 15 years of age. Found that out-of-home care experiences appeared to influence social competence by fostering individual differences that remained stable through childhood and early adolescence. (Author/HTH)